• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.221-234
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• 2019

Today, many important concrete face rockfill dams (CFRDs) have been built on the world, and some of these important structures are located on the strong seismic regions. In this reason, examination and monitoring of these water construction's seismic behaviour is very important for the safety and future of these dams. In this study, the nonlinear seismic behaviour of Ilısu CFR dam which was built in Turkey in 2017, is investigated for various reservoir water heights taking into account 1995 Kobe near-fault and far-fault ground motions. Three dimensional (3D) finite difference model of the dam is created using the FLAC3D software that is based on the finite difference method. The most suitable mesh range for the 3D model is chosen to achieve the realistic numerical results. Mohr-Coulomb nonlinear material model is used for the rockfill materials and foundation in the seismic analyses. Moreover, Drucker-Prager nonlinear material model is considered for the concrete slab to represent the nonlinearity of the concrete. The dam body, foundation and concrete slab constantly interact during the lifetime of the CFRDs. Therefore, the special interface elements are defined between the dam body-concrete slab and dam body-foundation due to represent the interaction condition in the 3D model. Free field boundary condition that was used rarely for the nonlinear seismic analyses, is considered for the lateral boundaries of the model. In addition, quiet artificial boundary condition that is special boundary condition for the rigid foundation in the earthquake analyses, is used for the bottom of the foundation. The hysteric damping coefficients are separately calculated for all of the materials. These special damping values is defined to the FLAC3D software using the special fish functions to capture the effects of the variation of the modulus and damping ratio with the dynamic shear-strain magnitude. Total 4 different reservoir water heights are taken into account in the seismic analyses. These water heights are empty reservoir, 50 m, 100 m and 130 m (full reservoir), respectively. In the nonlinear seismic analyses, near-fault and far-fault ground motions of 1995 Kobe earthquake are used. According to the numerical analyses, horizontal displacements, vertical displacements and principal stresses for 4 various reservoir water heights are evaluated in detail. Moreover, these results are compared for the near-fault and far-faults earthquakes. The nonlinear seismic analysis results indicate that as the reservoir height increases, the nonlinear seismic behaviour of the dam clearly changes. Each water height has different seismic effects on the earthquake behaviour of Ilısu CFR dam. In addition, it is obviously seen that near-fault earthquakes and far field earthquakes create different nonlinear seismic damages on the nonlinear earthquake behaviour of the dam.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.119-131
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• 2019

Time dependent creep settlements are one of the most important causes of material deteriorations for the huge water structures such as concrete faced rockfill dams (CFRDs). For this reason, performing creep analyses of CFRDs is vital important for monitoring and evaluating of the future and safety of such dams. In this study, it is observed how changes viscoplastic behaviour of a CFR dam depending the time. Ilısu dam that is the longest concrete faced rockfill dam (1775 m) in the world is selected for the three dimensional (3D) analyses. 3D finite difference model of Ilısu dam is modelled using FLAC3D software based on the finite difference method. Two different special creep material models are considered in the numerical analyses. Wipp-creep viscoplastic material model and burger-creep viscoplastic material model were rarely used for the creep analyses of CFRDs in the last are taken into account for the concrete slab and rockfill materials-foundation, respectively. Moreover, interface elements are defined between the concrete slab-rockfill materials and rockfill materials-foundation to provide interaction condition for 3D model. Firstly, dam and foundation are collapsed under its self-weight and static behaviour of the dam is evaluated for the empty reservoir conditions. Then, reservoir water is modelled considering maximum water level of the dam and time-dependent creep analyses are performed for maximum reservoir condition. In this paper, maximum principal stresses, vertical-horizontal displacements and pore pressures that may occur on the dam body surface during 30 years (from 2017 to 2047) are evaluated in detail. According to numerical analyses, empty and maximum reservoir conditions of Ilısu dam are compared with each other in detail. 4 various nodal points are selected under the concrete slab to better seen viscoplastic behaviour changes of the dam and viscoplastic behaviour differences of these points during 30 years are graphically presented. It is clearly seen that horizontal-vertical displacements and principal stresses for maximum reservoir condition are more than the empty reservoir condition of the dam and significant pore pressures are observed during 30 years for maximum reservoir condition. In addition, horizontal-vertical displacements, principal stresses and pore pressures for 4 nodal points obviously increased until a certain time and changes decreased after this time.